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US Civil Society Open Government Partnership Resources

OpenTheGovernment.org plays a key role in coordinating US civil society's engagement with the Open Government Partnership. In this work, we have evaluated the administration's implementation of their first and second National Action Plans (NAP) and created model plans to inform the administration's second and third National Action Plan.

See Evaluations and Model Plans here.

Scoring the third NAP

Bipartisan Bill to Make CRS Reports Public Introduced in House, Senate

Today, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John McCain (R-AZ) and Representatives Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) introduced bills in the House and Senate that would make reports by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) available to the public online.

Coalition Urges DOJ to Improve Data Reporting on Police-Civilian Encounters

In a letter sent today to Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason, OpenTheGovernment.org joined the ACLU, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and 80 other organizations to call for improved data collecting on police-civilian encounters.

Join OpenTheGovernment.org on March 11 to Celebrate Sunshine Week at the Newseum

Sunshine Week 2016 will take place March 13th to 19th, throughout Washington, DC, and across the country.

ODNI’s fee proposal would prevent public requests for declassification

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has quietly released a new proposal that would severely limit the ability of the public to file requests to declassify information held by the intelligence community.

Supreme Court Should Make Audio Recordings Available to the Public

On February 26, OTG joined media and openness groups in calling on the Supreme Court to expedite its release of audio recordings for two important current cases.

Openness Groups Express Support for Financial Industry Whistleblower Bill

The Whistleblower Augmented Reward and Nonretaliation (WARN) Act of 2016 would provide stronger incentives and protections for whistleblowers in the financial industry.

OTG's 2015 in review: Year-End Report

In 2015, OpenTheGovernment.org (OTG) worked to defend and strengthen open and accountable government, combat attempts to increase government secrecy, provide information to the public about their right to know and the need for open government reform, and much more.

OTG releases civil society progress report on the Administration’s open government commitments

WASHINGTON, February 17, 2016 – OpenTheGovernent.org today released a report, developed by 23 civil society organizations, on the progress made by the Administration in its Open Government commitments over the last two years. Among the findings, the report highlights the shortcomings in the completion rate, lack of political mandate and follow-through, and need for greater focus on civil society/government collaboration.

Questions for 2016 Candidates for Federal Offices on Government Accountability, Public Disclosure, and the Right to Know

OpenTheGovernment.org and the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) have drafted these open government-related questions that can be asked of all candidates for federal office. Our hope is that they will be used broadly - by editorial boards, reporters covering the 2016 campaigns, and interested members of the public who have an opportunity to speak with candidates.